"Kindererholungsheime, Ferienkolonie, Jugendherberge, Hitler Jugend Heime". Health, Educational and Political Initiatives for the German Children and Youths (1900-1945).

The first half of the 20th Century in Germany—as with other countries in continental Europe—was marked by the dramatic series of events of the war and by the socio-political upheavals. The German Kaiserreich (1871-1918) had seen a profound change and reduction of its controlled territory. The accounts of the people in turmoil and of the frenetic development of cities were projected onto the background of the difficult recovery in the years after the first post-war period and of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) up until the collapse of the Nazi regime (May 1945). In general it does not appear easy to trace the historical events that developed, as true and proper mass and generational movements, the recourse to cures of “air, water and sun”. The phenomenon of therapeutic colonies in Germany—ignored almost completely in academic studies—is considered a vital field of inquiry in the social sciences and health industry. It is not a simple task, therefore, to single out exemplary cases given the formidable expansion of German industry of the first post-war period as well as the territorial dispersion in a situation that transcended physical national limits. The destruction of many projects and the dispersal of institutional archives—especially after 1945—has also proven to be quite problematic to identify the designers and the reconstruction of the actual construction of the buildings. In many cases the discovery of works “signed” by well-known designers is random or completely uncertain with attributes that are often conflicting. This essay is the first phase of a more articulated study on the connections between architecture and politics, and education and health in a German context and outlines health, educational and political initiatives for the German children and youths from 1900 to 1945.